diff --git a/src/cairo-xml-surface.c b/src/cairo-xml-surface.c
index 55b5b8e51..b323d03c4 100644
--- a/src/cairo-xml-surface.c
+++ b/src/cairo-xml-surface.c
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ _cairo_xml_emit_path (cairo_xml_t *xml,
 					_cairo_xml_close_path,
 					xml);
     assert (status == CAIRO_STATUS_SUCCESS);
-    _cairo_xml_printf_start (xml, "</path>");
+    _cairo_xml_printf_end (xml, "</path>");
 }
 
 static void