diff --git a/plugins/gradle/java/src/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtil.kt b/plugins/gradle/java/src/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtil.kt
index 857a0f14433f..7dab1a0cd35c 100644
--- a/plugins/gradle/java/src/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtil.kt
+++ b/plugins/gradle/java/src/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtil.kt
@@ -107,17 +107,34 @@ fun <T> ExternalSystemTaskExecutionSettings.applyTestConfiguration(
   }
 
   externalProjectPath = projectPath
-  taskNames = testRunConfigurations.entries.flatMap { it.key.split(" ") + it.value }
+
+  val taskNameRegex = Regex("('[\\S\\s]+?'|\\S+)") // either escaped (contains space) or not
+  taskNames = testRunConfigurations.entries.flatMap {
+    val commandLine = it.key
+    val tasks = taskNameRegex.findAll(commandLine)
+      .map { match -> match.groupValues[1] }
+      .map(::restoreEscaped)
+      .toList()
+
+    tasks + it.value
+  }
+
   scriptParameters = if (testRunConfigurations.size > 1) "--continue" else ""
 
   return true
 }
 
+//////////////////////////////////////////////
 fun String.escapeIfNeeded() = when {
   contains(' ') -> "'$this'"
   else -> this
 }
 
+fun restoreEscaped(taskName: String): String {
+  return taskName.removeSurrounding("'")
+}
+//////////////////////////////////////////////
+
 fun getSourceFile(sourceElement: PsiElement?): VirtualFile? {
   if (sourceElement == null) return null
   if (sourceElement is PsiFileSystemItem) {
diff --git a/plugins/gradle/java/testSources/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtilTest.kt b/plugins/gradle/java/testSources/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtilTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b2032c124fff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/gradle/java/testSources/execution/test/runner/TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtilTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// Copyright 2000-2021 JetBrains s.r.o. and contributors. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+package org.jetbrains.plugins.gradle.execution.test.runner
+
+import com.intellij.mock.MockVirtualFile
+import com.intellij.openapi.externalSystem.model.execution.ExternalSystemTaskExecutionSettings
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertIterableEquals
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue
+
+class TestGradleConfigurationProducerUtilTest {
+
+  @Test
+  fun testThatSettingsGetProperTaskNames() {
+    val settingsUnderTest = ExternalSystemTaskExecutionSettings()
+
+    val fileWithTestsA = MockVirtualFile("FileNameA.kt")
+    val fileWithTestsB = MockVirtualFile("FileNameB.kt")
+
+    val applied = settingsUnderTest.applyTestConfiguration(
+      "whatever-project-path",
+      listOf("TestA", "TestB"),
+      {
+        when(it) {
+          "TestA" -> fileWithTestsA
+          "TestB" -> fileWithTestsB
+          else -> null
+        }
+      },
+      { "FILTER" },
+      {
+        when(it) {
+          fileWithTestsA -> listOf(listOf("task A", "task B"))
+          fileWithTestsB -> listOf(listOf(":module1:module2:taskC", "taskD"))
+          else -> emptyList()
+        }
+
+      }
+    )
+
+    assertTrue(applied) { "Test configuration was not applied" }
+    assertIterableEquals(listOf("task A", "task B", "FILTER", ":module1:module2:taskC", "taskD", "FILTER"), settingsUnderTest.taskNames)
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file