diff --git a/pythonwhois/parse.py b/pythonwhois/parse.py
index 66217d6..9d585a3 100644
--- a/pythonwhois/parse.py
+++ b/pythonwhois/parse.py
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ def precompile_regexes(source, flags=0):
 
 def preprocess_regex(regex):
 	# Fix for #2; prevents a ridiculous amount of varying size permutations.
-	regex = re.sub(r"\\s\*\(\?P<([^>]+)>\.\+\)", r"\s*(?P<\1>\S.*)", regex)
+	regex = re.sub(r"\\s\*\(\?P<([^>]+)>\.\+\)", r"\\s*(?P<\1>\\S.*)", regex)
 	# Experimental fix for #18; removes unnecessary variable-size whitespace
 	# matching, since we're stripping results anyway.
 	regex = re.sub(r"\[ \]\*\(\?P<([^>]+)>\.\*\)", r"(?P<\1>.*)", regex)