diff --git a/telethon/sessions/sqlite.py b/telethon/sessions/sqlite.py
index c15ab1b2..cc4bd879 100644
--- a/telethon/sessions/sqlite.py
+++ b/telethon/sessions/sqlite.py
@@ -179,14 +179,11 @@ class SQLiteSession(MemorySession):
         self._update_session_table()
 
         # Fetch the auth_key corresponding to this data center
-        c = self._cursor()
-        c.execute('select auth_key from sessions')
-        tuple_ = c.fetchone()
-        if tuple_ and tuple_[0]:
-            self._auth_key = AuthKey(data=tuple_[0])
+        row = self._execute('select auth_key from sessions')
+        if row and row[0]:
+            self._auth_key = AuthKey(data=row[0])
         else:
             self._auth_key = None
-        c.close()
 
     @MemorySession.auth_key.setter
     def auth_key(self, value):
@@ -210,21 +207,17 @@ class SQLiteSession(MemorySession):
         c.close()
 
     def get_update_state(self, entity_id):
-        c = self._cursor()
-        row = c.execute('select pts, qts, date, seq from update_state '
-                        'where id = ?', (entity_id,)).fetchone()
-        c.close()
+        row = self._execute('select pts, qts, date, seq from update_state '
+                            'where id = ?', entity_id)
         if row:
             pts, qts, date, seq = row
             date = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(date)
             return types.updates.State(pts, qts, date, seq, unread_count=0)
 
     def set_update_state(self, entity_id, state):
-        c = self._cursor()
-        c.execute('insert or replace into update_state values (?,?,?,?,?)',
-                  (entity_id, state.pts, state.qts,
-                   state.date.timestamp(), state.seq))
-        c.close()
+        self._execute('insert or replace into update_state values (?,?,?,?,?)',
+                      entity_id, state.pts, state.qts,
+                      state.date.timestamp(), state.seq)
 
     def save(self):
         """Saves the current session object as session_user_id.session"""
@@ -239,6 +232,17 @@ class SQLiteSession(MemorySession):
                                          check_same_thread=False)
         return self._conn.cursor()
 
+    def _execute(self, stmt, *values):
+        """
+        Gets a cursor, executes `stmt` and closes the cursor,
+        fetching one row afterwards and returning its result.
+        """
+        c = self._cursor()
+        try:
+            return c.execute(stmt, values).fetchone()
+        finally:
+            c.close()
+
     def close(self):
         """Closes the connection unless we're working in-memory"""
         if self.filename != ':memory:':
@@ -281,67 +285,55 @@ class SQLiteSession(MemorySession):
             return
 
         c = self._cursor()
-        c.executemany(
-            'insert or replace into entities values (?,?,?,?,?)', rows
-        )
-        c.close()
-
-    def _fetchone_entity(self, query, args):
-        c = self._cursor()
-        c.execute(query, args)
-        t = c.fetchone()
-        c.close()
-        return t
+        try:
+            c.executemany(
+                'insert or replace into entities values (?,?,?,?,?)', rows)
+        finally:
+            c.close()
 
     def get_entity_rows_by_phone(self, phone):
-        return self._fetchone_entity(
-            'select id, hash from entities where phone=?', (phone,))
+        return self._execute(
+            'select id, hash from entities where phone = ?', phone)
 
     def get_entity_rows_by_username(self, username):
-        return self._fetchone_entity(
-            'select id, hash from entities where username=?', (username,))
+        return self._execute(
+            'select id, hash from entities where username = ?', username)
 
     def get_entity_rows_by_name(self, name):
-        return self._fetchone_entity(
-            'select id, hash from entities where name=?', (name,))
+        return self._execute(
+            'select id, hash from entities where name = ?', name)
 
     def get_entity_rows_by_id(self, id, exact=True):
         if exact:
-            return self._fetchone_entity(
-                'select id, hash from entities where id=?', (id,))
+            return self._execute(
+                'select id, hash from entities where id = ?', id)
         else:
-            ids = (
+            return self._execute(
+                'select id, hash from entities where id in (?,?,?)',
                 utils.get_peer_id(PeerUser(id)),
                 utils.get_peer_id(PeerChat(id)),
                 utils.get_peer_id(PeerChannel(id))
             )
-            return self._fetchone_entity(
-                'select id, hash from entities where id in (?,?,?)', ids
-            )
 
     # File processing
 
     def get_file(self, md5_digest, file_size, cls):
-        c = self._cursor()
-        tuple_ = c.execute(
+        row = self._execute(
             'select id, hash from sent_files '
             'where md5_digest = ? and file_size = ? and type = ?',
-            (md5_digest, file_size, _SentFileType.from_type(cls).value)
-        ).fetchone()
-        c.close()
-        if tuple_:
+            md5_digest, file_size, _SentFileType.from_type(cls).value
+        )
+        if row:
             # Both allowed classes have (id, access_hash) as parameters
-            return cls(tuple_[0], tuple_[1])
+            return cls(row[0], row[1])
 
     def cache_file(self, md5_digest, file_size, instance):
         if not isinstance(instance, (InputDocument, InputPhoto)):
             raise TypeError('Cannot cache %s instance' % type(instance))
 
-        c = self._cursor()
-        c.execute(
-            'insert or replace into sent_files values (?,?,?,?,?)', (
-                md5_digest, file_size,
-                _SentFileType.from_type(type(instance)).value,
-                instance.id, instance.access_hash
-        ))
-        c.close()
+        self._execute(
+            'insert or replace into sent_files values (?,?,?,?,?)',
+            md5_digest, file_size,
+            _SentFileType.from_type(type(instance)).value,
+            instance.id, instance.access_hash
+        )