diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/core/tools/datetimes.py b/python/cudf/cudf/core/tools/datetimes.py
index 946cdcb1ebc..4856995b391 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/core/tools/datetimes.py
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/core/tools/datetimes.py
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@ def to_datetime(
     if yearfirst:
         raise NotImplementedError("yearfirst support is not yet implemented")
 
+    if format is not None and "%f" in format:
+        format = format.replace("%f", "%9f")
+
     try:
         if isinstance(arg, cudf.DataFrame):
             # we require at least Ymd
diff --git a/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_datetime.py b/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_datetime.py
index 9f19bf8b960..65e87e88f55 100644
--- a/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_datetime.py
+++ b/python/cudf/cudf/tests/test_datetime.py
@@ -717,6 +717,7 @@ def test_to_datetime_units(data, unit):
         (["10/11/2012", "01/01/2010", "07/07/2016", "02/02/2014"], "%m/%d/%Y"),
         (["10/11/2012", "01/01/2010", "07/07/2016", "02/02/2014"], "%d/%m/%Y"),
         (["10/11/2012", "01/01/2010", "07/07/2016", "02/02/2014"], None),
+        (["2021-04-13 12:30:04.123456789"], "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f"),
         (pd.Series([2015, 2020, 2021]), "%Y"),
         pytest.param(
             pd.Series(["1", "2", "1"]),