Yuan's first match as a professional was a narrow loss to Oliver Lines in the 2017 Riga Masters qualifiers on 31 May 2017, two days after his 17th birthday. His first win was a 4–2 defeat of Allan Taylor in the European Masters qualifiers. Yuan's best wins were 4–1 against Joe Perry in the English Open (which included two centuries), and 5–4 against Shaun Murphy in the Shanghai Masters. In the World Championship, he beat Fergal O'Brien 10–5, before losing 10–9 to Matthew Stevens, despite leading 9-7 and missing several chances to win. In total Yuan managed only 8 wins in his first season, and ended the season ranked 92.