diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 241dcad604b..abfb573c79e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
   . Fixed bug #72668 (Spurious warning when exception is thrown in user defined
     function). (Laruence)
   . Fixed bug #72571 (SQLite3::bindValue, SQLite3::bindParam crash). (Laruence)
+  . Implemented FR #72653 (SQLite should allow opening with empty filename).
+    (cmb)
 
 - Standard:
   . Fixed bug #72622 (array_walk + array_replace_recursive create references
diff --git a/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c b/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c
index 2cb6a5225c9..9c14dabc663 100644
--- a/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c
+++ b/ext/sqlite3/sqlite3.c
@@ -112,13 +112,11 @@ PHP_METHOD(sqlite3, open)
 
 	if (db_obj->initialised) {
 		zend_throw_exception(zend_ce_exception, "Already initialised DB Object", 0);
-	}
-
-	if (strlen(filename) != filename_len) {
 		return;
 	}
-	if (filename_len != sizeof(":memory:")-1 ||
-			memcmp(filename, ":memory:", sizeof(":memory:")-1) != 0) {
+
+	if (filename_len != 0 && (filename_len != sizeof(":memory:")-1 ||
+			memcmp(filename, ":memory:", sizeof(":memory:")-1) != 0)) {
 		if (!(fullpath = expand_filepath(filename, NULL))) {
 			zend_throw_exception(zend_ce_exception, "Unable to expand filepath", 0);
 			return;
@@ -138,7 +136,8 @@ PHP_METHOD(sqlite3, open)
 			return;
 		}
 	} else {
-		fullpath = estrdup(filename);
+		/* filename equals "" or ":memory:" */
+		fullpath = filename;
 	}
 
 #if SQLITE_VERSION_NUMBER >= 3005000
@@ -147,7 +146,7 @@ PHP_METHOD(sqlite3, open)
 	if (sqlite3_open(fullpath, &(db_obj->db)) != SQLITE_OK) {
 #endif
 		zend_throw_exception_ex(zend_ce_exception, 0, "Unable to open database: %s", sqlite3_errmsg(db_obj->db));
-		if (fullpath) {
+		if (fullpath != filename) {
 			efree(fullpath);
 		}
 		return;
@@ -172,7 +171,7 @@ PHP_METHOD(sqlite3, open)
 		sqlite3_set_authorizer(db_obj->db, php_sqlite3_authorizer, NULL);
 	}
 
-	if (fullpath) {
+	if (fullpath != filename) {
 		efree(fullpath);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/ext/sqlite3/tests/sqlite3_open_empty_string.phpt b/ext/sqlite3/tests/sqlite3_open_empty_string.phpt
index 86868eeed14..940056bf0ae 100644
--- a/ext/sqlite3/tests/sqlite3_open_empty_string.phpt
+++ b/ext/sqlite3/tests/sqlite3_open_empty_string.phpt
@@ -7,13 +7,8 @@ Thijs Feryn <thijs@feryn.eu>
 <?php require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . '/skipif.inc'); ?>
 --FILE--
 <?php
-try{
-    $db = new SQLite3('');
-} catch(Exception $e) {
-    echo $e->getMessage().PHP_EOL;
-}
+$db = new SQLite3('');
 echo "Done\n";
 ?>
---EXPECTF--
-Unable to expand filepath
+--EXPECT--
 Done