Having played this match-up myself, I am actually of the opinion that OP is correct. The thing is though, you have to play Yi well. If you don't know how to harass well with q+passive, or how to mitigate damage with your w (making sure that Yasuo has already used his charged q before hand), then you will get stomped. But if you know enough to take this into consideration, then you will be stronger than the opposing Yas. I wouldn't really call him a counter per-say, but I would say that a well-played Yi will beat a well-played Yasuo most of the time. (post-6 the damage difference is pretty absurd. Just gotta watch out for a charged q->ult)
As a side note, the reason I've actually played this match-up is because of 3's. I would think that there are just plain better Ad Champs to take mid in a 5v5 scenario such as Talon or Zed.