diff --git wp-includes/formatting.php wp-includes/formatting.php
index 3828c6a..284c9df 100644
--- wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ function wpautop($pee, $br = true) {
 		$pee .= '<p>' . trim($tinkle, "\n") . "</p>\n";
 	}
 
-	$pee = preg_replace('|<p>\s*</p>|', '', $pee); // under certain strange conditions it could create a P of entirely whitespace
+	$pee = preg_replace('|<p[^>]*>\s*</p>|', '', $pee); // under certain strange conditions it could create a P of entirely whitespace
 	$pee = preg_replace('!<p>([^<]+)</(div|address|form)>!', "<p>$1</p></$2>", $pee);
 	$pee = preg_replace('!<p>\s*(</?' . $allblocks . '[^>]*>)\s*</p>!', "$1", $pee); // don't pee all over a tag
 	$pee = preg_replace("|<p>(<li.+?)</p>|", "$1", $pee); // problem with nested lists
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ function wpautop($pee, $br = true) {
 	$pee = str_replace('</blockquote></p>', '</p></blockquote>', $pee);
 	$pee = preg_replace('!<p>\s*(</?' . $allblocks . '[^>]*>)!', "$1", $pee);
 	$pee = preg_replace('!(</?' . $allblocks . '[^>]*>)\s*</p>!', "$1", $pee);
+	$pee = balanceTags($pee, true);
 
 	if ( $br ) {
 		$pee = preg_replace_callback('/<(script|style).*?<\/\\1>/s', '_autop_newline_preservation_helper', $pee);