diff --git a/regexp.go b/regexp.go
index b5a15ed9..96dd94ad 100644
--- a/regexp.go
+++ b/regexp.go
@@ -230,14 +230,51 @@ func (r *routeRegexp) getURLQuery(req *http.Request) string {
 		return ""
 	}
 	templateKey := strings.SplitN(r.template, "=", 2)[0]
-	for key, vals := range req.URL.Query() {
-		if key == templateKey && len(vals) > 0 {
-			return key + "=" + vals[0]
-		}
+	val, ok := findFirstQueryKey(req.URL.RawQuery, templateKey)
+	if ok {
+		return templateKey + "=" + val
 	}
 	return ""
 }
 
+// findFirstQueryKey returns the same result as (*url.URL).Query()[key][0].
+// If key was not found, empty string and false is returned.
+func findFirstQueryKey(rawQuery, key string) (value string, ok bool) {
+	query := []byte(rawQuery)
+	for len(query) > 0 {
+		foundKey := query
+		if i := bytes.IndexAny(foundKey, "&;"); i >= 0 {
+			foundKey, query = foundKey[:i], foundKey[i+1:]
+		} else {
+			query = query[:0]
+		}
+		if len(foundKey) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		var value []byte
+		if i := bytes.IndexByte(foundKey, '='); i >= 0 {
+			foundKey, value = foundKey[:i], foundKey[i+1:]
+		}
+		if len(foundKey) < len(key) {
+			// Cannot possibly be key.
+			continue
+		}
+		keyString, err := url.QueryUnescape(string(foundKey))
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if keyString != key {
+			continue
+		}
+		valueString, err := url.QueryUnescape(string(value))
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		return valueString, true
+	}
+	return "", false
+}
+
 func (r *routeRegexp) matchQueryString(req *http.Request) bool {
 	return r.regexp.MatchString(r.getURLQuery(req))
 }
diff --git a/regexp_test.go b/regexp_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0d80e6a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/regexp_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+package mux
+
+import (
+	"net/url"
+	"reflect"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func Test_findFirstQueryKey(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []string{
+		"a=1&b=2",
+		"a=1&a=2&a=banana",
+		"ascii=%3Ckey%3A+0x90%3E",
+		"a=1;b=2",
+		"a=1&a=2;a=banana",
+		"a==",
+		"a=%2",
+		"a=20&%20%3F&=%23+%25%21%3C%3E%23%22%7B%7D%7C%5C%5E%5B%5D%60%E2%98%BA%09:%2F@$%27%28%29%2A%2C%3B&a=30",
+		"a=1& ?&=#+%!<>#\"{}|\\^[]`☺\t:/@$'()*,;&a=5",
+		"a=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&b=YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY&c=ppppppppppppppppppp&f=ttttttttttttttttt&a=uuuuuuuuuuuuu",
+	}
+	for _, query := range tests {
+		t.Run(query, func(t *testing.T) {
+			// Check against url.ParseQuery, ignoring the error.
+			all, _ := url.ParseQuery(query)
+			for key, want := range all {
+				t.Run(key, func(t *testing.T) {
+					got, ok := findFirstQueryKey(query, key)
+					if !ok {
+						t.Error("Did not get expected key", key)
+					}
+					if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want[0]) {
+						t.Errorf("findFirstQueryKey(%s,%s) = %v, want %v", query, key, got, want[0])
+					}
+				})
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func Benchmark_findQueryKey(b *testing.B) {
+	tests := []string{
+		"a=1&b=2",
+		"ascii=%3Ckey%3A+0x90%3E",
+		"a=20&%20%3F&=%23+%25%21%3C%3E%23%22%7B%7D%7C%5C%5E%5B%5D%60%E2%98%BA%09:%2F@$%27%28%29%2A%2C%3B&a=30",
+		"a=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&bbb=YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY&cccc=ppppppppppppppppppp&ddddd=ttttttttttttttttt&a=uuuuuuuuuuuuu",
+		"a=;b=;c=;d=;e=;f=;g=;h=;i=,j=;k=",
+	}
+	for i, query := range tests {
+		b.Run(strconv.Itoa(i), func(b *testing.B) {
+			// Check against url.ParseQuery, ignoring the error.
+			all, _ := url.ParseQuery(query)
+			b.ReportAllocs()
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				for key, _ := range all {
+					_, _ = findFirstQueryKey(query, key)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func Benchmark_findQueryKeyGoLib(b *testing.B) {
+	tests := []string{
+		"a=1&b=2",
+		"ascii=%3Ckey%3A+0x90%3E",
+		"a=20&%20%3F&=%23+%25%21%3C%3E%23%22%7B%7D%7C%5C%5E%5B%5D%60%E2%98%BA%09:%2F@$%27%28%29%2A%2C%3B&a=30",
+		"a=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&bbb=YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY&cccc=ppppppppppppppppppp&ddddd=ttttttttttttttttt&a=uuuuuuuuuuuuu",
+		"a=;b=;c=;d=;e=;f=;g=;h=;i=,j=;k=",
+	}
+	for i, query := range tests {
+		b.Run(strconv.Itoa(i), func(b *testing.B) {
+			// Check against url.ParseQuery, ignoring the error.
+			all, _ := url.ParseQuery(query)
+			var u url.URL
+			u.RawQuery = query
+			b.ReportAllocs()
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				for key, _ := range all {
+					v := u.Query()[key]
+					if len(v) > 0 {
+						_ = v[0]
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}