Yu drew compatriot Ding Junhui in the last 32 and pulled off the result of his career to date as he won the first three frames before once again closing out the match 5–3.

[7] Yu also had a good season in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series as he played in 11 of the 12 events, picking up two quarter-finals and two last 16 finishes to be placed 34th on the PTC Order of Merit.

[14] Yu lost in the first round of both the Indian Open and Shanghai Masters, before winning his first match in a ranking event at the UK Championship with a 6–3 victory over David Grace.

[16] Yu played in all four of the Asian Tour events and lost 4–1 to Alan McManus in the quarter-finals of the Yixing Open, with his only frame coming courtesy of a 117 break.

[19] Yu continued his recent good play into the China Open with wins against Duane Jones and James Wattana to face Neil Robertson in the third round.

[21] Yu recorded his first win of the year at a ranking event by knocking out Oliver Lines 6–2 in the UK Championship and, though he led 3–0, he would be beaten 6–4 by Stephen Maguire in the second round.

[21] In Yu's deciding frame of his first round match at the Indian Open he led Ben Woollaston 67–0, before the Englishman made a 67 break and won the respotted black.

[25] A 6–1 victory over Chris Melling saw Yu qualify for the International Championship and he knocked out reigning world champion Stuart Bingham 6–2 in the first round.

[27] A trio of deciding frame victories over Ian Glover, Ricky Walden and Dechawat Poomjaeng saw Yu reach the last 16 of the Welsh Open, his deepest run a ranking event this season, and he lost 4–1 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

[29] Yu could not win a first round match in the 2016–17 season until the ninth event when he beat Ding Junhui 4–2 at the Northern Ireland Open, before losing 4–1 to Robbie Williams.

[30] At the Scottish Open, Yu reached the semi-finals for the first time in his career in a ranking tournament, beating Josh Boileau, Mark Joyce, Daniel Wells, Sean O'Sullivan and Liang Wenbo, all in final frame deciders.