diff --git a/algebricks/algebricks-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/algebricks/runtime/operators/std/EmptyTupleSourceRuntimeFactory.java b/algebricks/algebricks-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/algebricks/runtime/operators/std/EmptyTupleSourceRuntimeFactory.java
index b5d717a..5b66736 100644
--- a/algebricks/algebricks-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/algebricks/runtime/operators/std/EmptyTupleSourceRuntimeFactory.java
+++ b/algebricks/algebricks-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/algebricks/runtime/operators/std/EmptyTupleSourceRuntimeFactory.java
@@ -49,13 +49,15 @@
             @Override
             public void open() throws HyracksDataException {
                 writer.open();
-                if (!appender.append(tb.getFieldEndOffsets(), tb.getByteArray(), 0, tb.getSize())) {
-                    throw new IllegalStateException();
+                try {
+                    if (!appender.append(tb.getFieldEndOffsets(), tb.getByteArray(), 0, tb.getSize())) {
+                        throw new IllegalStateException();
+                    }
+                    appender.flush(writer, true);
+                } finally {
+                    writer.close();
                 }
-                appender.flush(writer, true);
-                writer.close();
             }
         };
     }
-
 }