diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java
index 3d1ef0c48adc5..e73ba39468828 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java
@@ -122,6 +122,10 @@ public UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter(
     this.maxRecordSizeBytes = pageSizeBytes - 4;
     this.writeMetrics = writeMetrics;
     initializeForWriting();
+
+    // preserve first page to ensure that we have at least one page to work with. Otherwise,
+    // other operators in the same task may starve this sorter (SPARK-9709).
+    acquireNewPageIfNecessary(pageSizeBytes);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/MapPartitionsWithPreparationRDD.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/MapPartitionsWithPreparationRDD.scala
index 1f2213d0c4346..417ff5278db2a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/MapPartitionsWithPreparationRDD.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/MapPartitionsWithPreparationRDD.scala
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ private[spark] class MapPartitionsWithPreparationRDD[U: ClassTag, T: ClassTag, M
 
   // In certain join operations, prepare can be called on the same partition multiple times.
   // In this case, we need to ensure that each call to compute gets a separate prepare argument.
-  private[this] var preparedArguments: ArrayBuffer[M] = new ArrayBuffer[M]
+  private[this] val preparedArguments: ArrayBuffer[M] = new ArrayBuffer[M]
 
   /**
    * Prepare a partition for a single call to compute.
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriterSuite.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriterSuite.java
index 94650be536b5f..a266b0c36e0fa 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriterSuite.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriterSuite.java
@@ -530,8 +530,9 @@ public void testPeakMemoryUsed() throws Exception {
       for (int i = 0; i < numRecordsPerPage * 10; i++) {
         writer.insertRecordIntoSorter(new Tuple2<Object, Object>(1, 1));
         newPeakMemory = writer.getPeakMemoryUsedBytes();
-        if (i % numRecordsPerPage == 0) {
-          // We allocated a new page for this record, so peak memory should change
+        if (i % numRecordsPerPage == 0 && i != 0) {
+          // The first page is allocated in constructor, another page will be allocated after
+          // every numRecordsPerPage records (peak memory should change).
           assertEquals(previousPeakMemory + pageSizeBytes, newPeakMemory);
         } else {
           assertEquals(previousPeakMemory, newPeakMemory);