2008
She competed in a few Super Series tournaments such as All England and the Swiss Open but was stopped in the first round in each. She entered the Uber Cup team and won against the second-seeded country, Japan, by a score of 4–1. While she was defeated by the Japanese, Eriko Hirose, 21–9, 20–22, 20–22, her teammates secured the team victory against the other Japanese players. They reached the final for the first time in 14 years by beating Hong Kong in the quarterfinal and Germany in the semifinal. They were defeated in the final by China, 0–3.
Yulianti competed in the Indonesia Open. She beat her compatriot, Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and Yao Jie of Netherlands in the first two rounds. She followed this by defeating the 7th seed, Zhou Mi of Hong Kong in three sets, 21–17, 15–21, 21–16. She accomplished a big upset by beating the Chinese senior player and second seed, Zhang Ning, in a very tight match, 21–14, 20–22, 22–20 and reached her first Super Series final. There she was beaten by the 1st seed, Zhu Lin, after fighting for more than an hour in three sets, 18–21, 21–17, 14–21.
Yulianti's biggest achievement in the sport, thus far, is earning the women's singles bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics as an unseeded player. She is only the third Indonesian woman, and the fifth woman not representing China, to be awarded a medal in women's singles since badminton entered the Games in 1992. In the round of 64, she saved a match point against Juliane Schenk of Germany and won the game in the rubber set, 18–21, 21–13, 22–20. She followed this by defeating Yoana Martínez of Spain in straight sets. She started to get noticed after she defeated the All England champion, Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, in three sets, 18–21, 21–19, 21–14. She reached the semifinal by beating Saina Nehwal of India after she saved 8 game points and won 26–28, 21–14, 21–15. She lost to eventual gold medalist Zhang Ning in the semifinal, 15–21, 15–21. However, Yulianti defeated the 3rd seed, Lu Lan, in the playoff for the bronze medal, 11–21, 21–13, 21–15.
After the Olympics, she competed in some Super Series tournaments, although she was always defeated by Lu Lan in three sets. Notable matches include her victory over the 6th-seeded Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia in the Japan Open, 18–21, 21–13, 21–6, as well as her defeat of Zhu Lin, the 5th seed, 21–15, 21–14, in the French Open.
