diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/flowcontrol/request/list_work_estimator.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/flowcontrol/request/list_work_estimator.go
index d880469659c..a9e76141e93 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/flowcontrol/request/list_work_estimator.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/flowcontrol/request/list_work_estimator.go
@@ -173,10 +173,10 @@ func shouldListFromStorage(query url.Values, opts *metav1.ListOptions) bool {
 	consistentReadFromStorage := resourceVersion == "" && !(consistentListFromCacheEnabled && requestWatchProgressSupported)
 	// Watch cache doesn't support continuations, so serve them from etcd.
 	hasContinuation := len(opts.Continue) > 0
-	// Serve paginated requests about revision "0" from watch cache to avoid overwhelming etcd.
-	hasLimit := opts.Limit > 0 && resourceVersion != "0"
 	// Watch cache only supports ResourceVersionMatchNotOlderThan (default).
-	unsupportedMatch := match != "" && match != metav1.ResourceVersionMatchNotOlderThan
+	// see https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/using-api/api-concepts/#semantics-for-get-and-list
+	isLegacyExactMatch := opts.Limit > 0 && match == "" && len(resourceVersion) > 0 && resourceVersion != "0"
+	unsupportedMatch := match != "" && match != metav1.ResourceVersionMatchNotOlderThan || isLegacyExactMatch
 
-	return consistentReadFromStorage || hasContinuation || hasLimit || unsupportedMatch
+	return consistentReadFromStorage || hasContinuation || unsupportedMatch
 }