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Karolína Muchová defeated home favourite Zheng Qinwen 6:3, 6:4 to reach the final of the China Open tournament in Beijing. The 28-year-old Czech has advanced to the final for the second time in the season and the sixth time in her career. She will now face American Coco Gauff, who beat Spain's Paula Badosa 4:6, 6:4, 6:2 on Sunday.

Czech tennis player Karolína Muchová will try to reach her second final this year at the China Open tournament in Beijing on Saturday. Her opponent will be home player Zheng Qinwen, whom she has faced twice so far. She lost to her in the final in Palermo this year and beat her in Madrid the year before. In the quarter-finals, Muchová defeated the world No. 2 and reigning US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in three sets, the latter’s first defeat in 15 matches. The 28-year-old native of Olomouc could advance to the final for the sixth time in her career. Last year, she made it to the final of the Grand Slam Roland Garros. She has only won the WTA Tour title in 2019 in Seoul.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala has asked President Pavel to appoint Petr Kulhánek to the post of minister for regional development and Lukáš Vlček to the post of industry minister. Petr Kulhánek will replace Ivan Bartoš of the Pirate Party, who was dismissed for failing to secure the digitization of the building permits system, while Lukáš Vlček is set to replace Jozef Síkela, who is moving to the European Commission. The president is expected to meet both nominees on Monday and is likely to appoint them on Tuesday.

According to the prime minister, Kulhánek faces three key tasks: in addition to guaranteeing a functional building permits system and securing more affordable housing, he must also work in cooperation with the regions and municipalities in repairing the damage wrought by the September floods.

The parties of the ruling coalition on Friday used their majority in the lower house to send the bill on pension reform into its third and final reading, forcibly cutting short the debate after 26 hours of obstruction tactics by the opposition parties. The  proposal envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age linked to a higher life expectancy with a ceiling at age 67, a different basis for calculating old-age pensions, a lower indexation of pensions and a minimum pension amounting to 20 percent of the average wage. The present retirement age is 65 for both men and women.

According to Labour Minister Marian Jurečka the reform is necessary for the sustainability of the pension system. The opposition ANO party is highly critical of the planned changes and has said that it will consider filing a complaint against it to the Constitutional Court.