diff --git a/model/labels/regexp_test.go b/model/labels/regexp_test.go
index 47d3eeb4a..41160cc05 100644
--- a/model/labels/regexp_test.go
+++ b/model/labels/regexp_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
+	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/regexp"
 	"github.com/grafana/regexp/syntax"
@@ -926,19 +927,74 @@ func BenchmarkOptimizeEqualStringMatchers(b *testing.B) {
 }
 
 func TestZeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("match newline", func(t *testing.T) {
+		matcher := &zeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher{matchNL: true}
+		require.True(t, matcher.Matches(""))
+		require.True(t, matcher.Matches("x"))
+		require.True(t, matcher.Matches("\n"))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches("xx"))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches("\n\n"))
+	})
+
+	t.Run("do not match newline", func(t *testing.T) {
+		matcher := &zeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher{matchNL: false}
+		require.True(t, matcher.Matches(""))
+		require.True(t, matcher.Matches("x"))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches("\n"))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches("xx"))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches("\n\n"))
+	})
+
+	t.Run("unicode", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// Just for documentation purposes, emoji1 is 1 rune, emoji2 is 2 runes.
+		// Having this in mind, will make future readers fixing tests easier.
+		emoji1 := "😀"
+		emoji2 := "❤️"
+		require.Equal(t, 1, utf8.RuneCountInString(emoji1))
+		require.Equal(t, 2, utf8.RuneCountInString(emoji2))
+
+		matcher := &zeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher{matchNL: true}
+		require.True(t, matcher.Matches(emoji1))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches(emoji2))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches(emoji1+emoji1))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches("x"+emoji1))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches(emoji1+"x"))
+		require.False(t, matcher.Matches(emoji1+emoji2))
+	})
+}
+
+func BenchmarkZeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher(b *testing.B) {
+	type benchCase struct {
+		str     string
+		matches bool
+	}
+
+	emoji1 := "😀"
+	emoji2 := "❤️"
+	cases := []benchCase{
+		{"", true},
+		{"x", true},
+		{"\n", true},
+		{"xx", false},
+		{"\n\n", false},
+		{emoji1, true},
+		{emoji2, false},
+		{emoji1 + emoji1, false},
+		{strings.Repeat("x", 100), false},
+		{strings.Repeat(emoji1, 100), false},
+		{strings.Repeat(emoji2, 100), false},
+	}
+
 	matcher := &zeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher{matchNL: true}
-	require.True(t, matcher.Matches(""))
-	require.True(t, matcher.Matches("x"))
-	require.True(t, matcher.Matches("\n"))
-	require.False(t, matcher.Matches("xx"))
-	require.False(t, matcher.Matches("\n\n"))
-
-	matcher = &zeroOrOneCharacterStringMatcher{matchNL: false}
-	require.True(t, matcher.Matches(""))
-	require.True(t, matcher.Matches("x"))
-	require.False(t, matcher.Matches("\n"))
-	require.False(t, matcher.Matches("xx"))
-	require.False(t, matcher.Matches("\n\n"))
+	b.ResetTimer()
+
+	for n := 0; n < b.N; n++ {
+		c := cases[n%len(cases)]
+		got := matcher.Matches(c.str)
+		if got != c.matches {
+			b.Fatalf("unexpected result for %q: got %t, want %t", c.str, got, c.matches)
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 func TestLiteralPrefixStringMatcher(t *testing.T) {