Taylor Fritz's hopes of a top-four seed at Wimbledon took a blow as he was knocked out of Queen's by Corentin Moutet on Tuesday.

Moutet did it the hard way, fighting back from a set down, saving a match point and recovering from a stray forehand to the face en route to a 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (9-7) 7-5 victory that took just under three hours.

It was a case of down, but certainly not out, for the Frenchman when he was hit in the head by an attempted Fritz passing shot deep in the deciding set.

Fritz, having apologised for his error, went on to break serve and level the set at 5-5, but Moutet struck straight back to nose himself in front.

And at the second attempt, Moutet served out the win, clinching victory with his first match point.

Fritz's defeat, which came two days after his triumph at the Stuttgart Open, leaves him open to dropping out of the top four in the ATP rankings, damaging his chances of gaining a top-four seed at Wimbledon.

Moutet's moment! @moutet99 fends off match point 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 7-5 past Fritz for a career-best victory!@QueensTennis | #HSBCChampionships pic.twitter.com/xtUnArjidK

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 17, 2025

Data Debrief: Moutet makes his mark

This was just Moutet's second win over a top-10 opponent, from 17 such meetings, following a victory over Holger Rune in Rome last month, in what was the longest best-of-three match on the ATP Tour at the time.

Tuesday's clash was another epic, as Moutet became the first Frenchman to claim a victory over a top-five opponent on grass since Adrian Mannarino beat Daniil Medvedev and Richard Gasquet overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas in June 2023.