diff --git a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_batch_cache.c b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_batch_cache.c
index 448e701bbc6..c407cc5e33d 100644
--- a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_batch_cache.c
+++ b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_batch_cache.c
@@ -317,6 +317,13 @@ fd_bc_alloc_batch(struct fd_batch_cache *cache, struct fd_context *ctx, bool non
 	struct fd_batch *batch;
 	uint32_t idx;
 
+	/* For normal draw batches, pctx->set_framebuffer_state() handles
+	 * this, but for nondraw batches, this is a nice central location
+	 * to handle them all.
+	 */
+	if (nondraw)
+		fd_context_switch_from(ctx);
+
 	fd_screen_lock(ctx->screen);
 
 	while ((idx = ffs(~cache->batch_mask)) == 0) {
@@ -382,6 +389,9 @@ fd_bc_alloc_batch(struct fd_batch_cache *cache, struct fd_context *ctx, bool non
 	debug_assert(cache->batches[idx] == NULL);
 	cache->batches[idx] = batch;
 
+	if (nondraw)
+		fd_context_switch_to(ctx, batch);
+
 out:
 	fd_screen_unlock(ctx->screen);
 
diff --git a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.c b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.c
index e783a8ac715..8cbcd1cb52f 100644
--- a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.c
+++ b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.c
@@ -220,6 +220,9 @@ fd_context_destroy(struct pipe_context *pctx)
 
 	fd_fence_ref(&ctx->last_fence, NULL);
 
+	if (ctx->in_fence_fd != -1)
+		close(ctx->in_fence_fd);
+
 	util_copy_framebuffer_state(&ctx->framebuffer, NULL);
 	fd_batch_reference(&ctx->batch, NULL);  /* unref current batch */
 	fd_bc_invalidate_context(ctx);
@@ -400,6 +403,8 @@ fd_context_init(struct fd_context *ctx, struct pipe_screen *pscreen,
 	ctx->screen = screen;
 	ctx->pipe = fd_pipe_new2(screen->dev, FD_PIPE_3D, prio);
 
+	ctx->in_fence_fd = -1;
+
 	if (fd_device_version(screen->dev) >= FD_VERSION_ROBUSTNESS) {
 		ctx->context_reset_count = fd_get_reset_count(ctx, true);
 		ctx->global_reset_count = fd_get_reset_count(ctx, false);
diff --git a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.h b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.h
index e3ee25db022..0f1e8992c9c 100644
--- a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.h
+++ b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_context.h
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 #ifndef FREEDRENO_CONTEXT_H_
 #define FREEDRENO_CONTEXT_H_
 
+#include <libsync.h>
+
 #include "pipe/p_context.h"
 #include "indices/u_primconvert.h"
 #include "util/u_blitter.h"
@@ -259,6 +261,21 @@ struct fd_context {
 	 */
 	struct pipe_fence_handle *last_fence;
 
+	/* Fence fd we are told to wait on via ->fence_server_sync() (or -1
+	 * if none).  The in-fence is transferred over to the batch on the
+	 * next draw/blit/grid.
+	 *
+	 * The reason for this extra complexity is that apps will typically
+	 * do eglWaitSyncKHR()/etc at the beginning of the frame, before the
+	 * first draw.  But mesa/st doesn't flush down framebuffer state
+	 * change until we hit a draw, so at ->fence_server_sync() time, we
+	 * don't yet have the correct batch.  If we created a batch at that
+	 * point, it would be the wrong one, and we'd have to flush it pre-
+	 * maturely, causing us to stall early in the frame where we could
+	 * be building up cmdstream.
+	 */
+	int in_fence_fd;
+
 	/* track last known reset status globally and per-context to
 	 * determine if more resets occurred since then.  If global reset
 	 * count increases, it means some other context crashed.  If
@@ -478,6 +495,34 @@ fd_supported_prim(struct fd_context *ctx, unsigned prim)
 	return (1 << prim) & ctx->primtype_mask;
 }
 
+/**
+ * If we have a pending fence_server_sync() (GPU side sync), flush now.
+ * The alternative to try to track this with batch dependencies gets
+ * hairy quickly.
+ *
+ * Call this before switching to a different batch, to handle this case.
+ */
+static inline void
+fd_context_switch_from(struct fd_context *ctx)
+{
+	if (ctx->batch && (ctx->batch->in_fence_fd != -1))
+		fd_batch_flush(ctx->batch);
+}
+
+/**
+ * If there is a pending fence-fd that we need to sync on, this will
+ * transfer the reference to the next batch we are going to render
+ * to.
+ */
+static inline void
+fd_context_switch_to(struct fd_context *ctx, struct fd_batch *batch)
+{
+	if (ctx->in_fence_fd != -1) {
+		sync_accumulate("freedreno", &batch->in_fence_fd, ctx->in_fence_fd);
+		ctx->in_fence_fd = -1;
+	}
+}
+
 static inline struct fd_batch *
 fd_context_batch(struct fd_context *ctx)
 {
@@ -488,6 +533,7 @@ fd_context_batch(struct fd_context *ctx)
 		ctx->batch = batch;
 		fd_context_all_dirty(ctx);
 	}
+	fd_context_switch_to(ctx, ctx->batch);
 	return ctx->batch;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_fence.c b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_fence.c
index 29ee6627e2d..0cce0867779 100644
--- a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_fence.c
+++ b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_fence.c
@@ -155,7 +155,6 @@ void fd_fence_server_sync(struct pipe_context *pctx,
 		struct pipe_fence_handle *fence)
 {
 	struct fd_context *ctx = fd_context(pctx);
-	struct fd_batch *batch = fd_context_batch(ctx);
 
 	fence_flush(fence);
 
@@ -163,7 +162,7 @@ void fd_fence_server_sync(struct pipe_context *pctx,
 	if (fence->fence_fd == -1)
 		return;
 
-	if (sync_accumulate("freedreno", &batch->in_fence_fd, fence->fence_fd)) {
+	if (sync_accumulate("freedreno", &ctx->in_fence_fd, fence->fence_fd)) {
 		/* error */
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_state.c b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_state.c
index 1e0f6f40b18..9e1c1a1776c 100644
--- a/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_state.c
+++ b/src/gallium/drivers/freedreno/freedreno_state.c
@@ -220,6 +220,8 @@ fd_set_framebuffer_state(struct pipe_context *pctx,
 		framebuffer->width, framebuffer->height,
 		framebuffer->layers, framebuffer->samples);
 
+	fd_context_switch_from(ctx);
+
 	cso = &ctx->framebuffer;
 
 	if (util_framebuffer_state_equal(cso, framebuffer))