diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedAppendOnlyMap.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedAppendOnlyMap.scala
index d0d25b43d047..8f83262b63ff 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedAppendOnlyMap.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedAppendOnlyMap.scala
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ private[spark] class PartitionedAppendOnlyMap[K, V]
 
   def partitionedDestructiveSortedIterator(keyComparator: Option[Comparator[K]])
     : Iterator[((Int, K), V)] = {
-    val comparator = keyComparator.map(partitionKeyComparator).getOrElse(partitionComparator)
-    destructiveSortedIterator(comparator)
+    destructiveSortedIterator(getComparator(keyComparator))
   }
 
   def insert(partition: Int, key: K, value: V): Unit = {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedPairBuffer.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedPairBuffer.scala
index f5844d5353be..e43bc78b3f08 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedPairBuffer.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/PartitionedPairBuffer.scala
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ private[spark] class PartitionedPairBuffer[K, V](initialCapacity: Int = 64)
   /** Iterate through the data in a given order. For this class this is not really destructive. */
   override def partitionedDestructiveSortedIterator(keyComparator: Option[Comparator[K]])
     : Iterator[((Int, K), V)] = {
-    val comparator = keyComparator.map(partitionKeyComparator).getOrElse(partitionComparator)
+    val comparator = getComparator(keyComparator)
     new Sorter(new KVArraySortDataFormat[(Int, K), AnyRef]).sort(data, 0, curSize, comparator)
     iterator
   }
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/WritablePartitionedPairCollection.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/WritablePartitionedPairCollection.scala
index 5232c2bd8d6f..cb50d446011d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/WritablePartitionedPairCollection.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/WritablePartitionedPairCollection.scala
@@ -75,16 +75,22 @@ private[spark] object WritablePartitionedPairCollection {
   }
 
   /**
-   * A comparator for (Int, K) pairs that orders them both by their partition ID and a key ordering.
+   * Takes an optional parameter (keyComparator), use if provided
+   * and returns a comparator for the partitions
    */
-  def partitionKeyComparator[K](keyComparator: Comparator[K]): Comparator[(Int, K)] = {
-    new Comparator[(Int, K)] {
-      override def compare(a: (Int, K), b: (Int, K)): Int = {
-        val partitionDiff = a._1 - b._1
-        if (partitionDiff != 0) {
-          partitionDiff
-        } else {
-          keyComparator.compare(a._2, b._2)
+  def getComparator[K](keyComparator: Option[Comparator[K]]): Comparator[(Int, K)] = {
+    if (!keyComparator.isDefined) return partitionComparator
+    else {
+      val theKeyComp = keyComparator.get
+      new Comparator[(Int, K)] {
+        // We know we have a non-empty comparator here
+        override def compare(a: (Int, K), b: (Int, K)): Int = {
+          val partitionDiff = a._1 - b._1
+          if (partitionDiff != 0) {
+            partitionDiff
+          } else {
+            theKeyComp.compare(a._2, b._2)
+          }
         }
       }
     }