Safari cannot connect to google only

Since about two days ago my Safari can no longer connect to google domain. There is no specific error, it just says that "server unexpectedly dropped the connection" and that "sometimes occurs when the server is busy".

I did a bit of troubleshooting. Other symptoms, which may help in diagnosis:

• It happens only with google.com and all subdomains, other sites work fine
• It happens only on Safari - Firefox has no issues opening it under the same user
• I cleaned all data in Safari preferences - no changes
• I looked through system certificates but didn't find anything suspicious
• If I create a new user - Safari works again

Will appreciate any troubleshooting ideas or tips for how to fix it. Hopefully I don't hear back that reinstall is the only option, as I want to avoid it. This must be something simple, likely with permissions or certificates or whatnot.