diff --git a/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactory.java b/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactory.java
index a14058c8b..7a92a03bf 100644
--- a/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactory.java
+++ b/google-http-client/src/main/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactory.java
@@ -84,13 +84,13 @@ public HttpRequestInitializer getInitializer() {
   public HttpRequest buildRequest(String requestMethod, GenericUrl url, HttpContent content)
       throws IOException {
     HttpRequest request = transport.buildRequest();
+    if (url != null) {
+      request.setUrl(url);
+    }
     if (initializer != null) {
       initializer.initialize(request);
     }
     request.setRequestMethod(requestMethod);
-    if (url != null) {
-      request.setUrl(url);
-    }
     if (content != null) {
       request.setContent(content);
     }
diff --git a/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactoryTest.java b/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactoryTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..568eb201c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google-http-client/src/test/java/com/google/api/client/http/HttpRequestFactoryTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License
+ * is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
+ * or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.api.client.http;
+
+import com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+/** Tests {@link HttpRequestFactory}. */
+public class HttpRequestFactoryTest extends TestCase {
+
+  public void testBuildRequest_urlShouldBeSet() throws IllegalArgumentException, IOException {
+    HttpRequestFactory requestFactory =
+        new NetHttpTransport()
+            .createRequestFactory(
+                new HttpRequestInitializer() {
+                  @Override
+                  public void initialize(HttpRequest request) {
+                    // Url should be set by buildRequest method before calling initialize.
+                    if (request.getUrl() == null) {
+                      throw new IllegalArgumentException("url is not set in request");
+                    }
+                  }
+                });
+    GenericUrl url = new GenericUrl("https://foo.googleapis.com/");
+    HttpRequest request = requestFactory.buildRequest("GET", url, null);
+    assertEquals(url, request.getUrl());
+  }
+}