JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

JavaScript

var arr = [
    "<a href=\"...\" target=\"_blank\">foo</a>",
    "<a href=\"...\" target=\"_blank\">apple</a>",
    "<a href=\"...\" target=\"_blank\">cucumber</a>"
];

arr.sort(function(a,b) {
    var docA = new DOMParser().parseFromString(a, "text/html");
    var docB = new DOMParser().parseFromString(b, "text/html");
    var txtA = docA.querySelector('a').innerHTML;
    var txtB = docB.querySelector('a').innerHTML;
    
   return txtA.localeCompare(txtB);
});

document.body.innerText = JSON.stringify(arr, null, 4);