diff --git a/scrapy/core/downloader/contextfactory.py b/scrapy/core/downloader/contextfactory.py
index e20830c71..0b39b89d8 100644
--- a/scrapy/core/downloader/contextfactory.py
+++ b/scrapy/core/downloader/contextfactory.py
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 from OpenSSL import SSL
 from twisted.internet.ssl import ClientContextFactory
+try:
+    # available since twisted 14.0
+    from twisted.internet._sslverify import ClientTLSOptions
+except ImportError:
+    ClientTLSOptions = None
 
 
 class ScrapyClientContextFactory(ClientContextFactory):
     "A SSL context factory which is more permissive against SSL bugs."
     # see https://github.com/scrapy/scrapy/issues/82
     # and https://github.com/scrapy/scrapy/issues/26
+    # and https://github.com/scrapy/scrapy/issues/981
 
     def __init__(self):
         # see this issue on why we use TLSv1_METHOD by default
@@ -17,4 +23,6 @@ class ScrapyClientContextFactory(ClientContextFactory):
         # Enable all workarounds to SSL bugs as documented by
         # http://www.openssl.org/docs/ssl/SSL_CTX_set_options.html
         ctx.set_options(SSL.OP_ALL)
+        if hostname and ClientTLSOptions is not None: # workaround for TLS SNI
+            ClientTLSOptions(hostname, ctx)
         return ctx