diff --git a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/core/util/string/JavaScriptUtils.java b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/core/util/string/JavaScriptUtils.java
index 2eb4a28ed9..f3871fb316 100644
--- a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/core/util/string/JavaScriptUtils.java
+++ b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/core/util/string/JavaScriptUtils.java
@@ -95,6 +95,33 @@ public static CharSequence escapeQuotesAndBackslash(final CharSequence input)
 		return s;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Removes the surrounding single quotes from a string after trimming
+	 * leading and trailing whitespace.
+	 *
+	 * <p>Examples:</p>
+	 * <pre>
+	 * unquoteSingleQuoted(" 'url'   ") -> "url"
+	 * unquoteSingleQuoted("'url'")     -> "url"
+	 * unquoteSingleQuoted("''")        -> ""
+	 * </pre>
+	 *
+	 * @param s the single-quoted string
+	 * @return the contents between the outer single quotes
+	 */
+	public static String unquoteSingleQuoted(String s)
+	{
+		if (s != null)
+		{
+			var trimmed = s.trim();
+			if (trimmed.length() > 1 && trimmed.startsWith("'") && trimmed.endsWith("'"))
+			{
+				s = trimmed.substring(1, trimmed.length() - 1);
+			}
+		}
+		return s;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Write a reference to a javascript file to the response object
 	 *
diff --git a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/ExternalLink.java b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/ExternalLink.java
index 09607c8fc8..229f77d8f9 100644
--- a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/ExternalLink.java
+++ b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/ExternalLink.java
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 import org.apache.wicket.request.cycle.RequestCycle;
 import org.apache.wicket.request.flow.RedirectToUrlException;
 
+import static org.apache.wicket.core.util.string.JavaScriptUtils.escapeQuotesAndBackslash;
+
 /**
  * <p>
  * A simple anchor link (&lt;a href="http://url"&gt;) pointing to any URL. Usually this is used for
@@ -189,7 +191,7 @@ public void renderHead(IHeaderResponse response)
 		{
 			if (popupSettings != null)
 			{
-				popupSettings.setTarget(url);
+				popupSettings.setTarget("'" + url + "'");
 				response.render(OnEventHeaderItem.forComponent(this, "click",
 					popupSettings.getPopupJavaScript()));
 				return;
@@ -208,7 +210,7 @@ public void renderHead(IHeaderResponse response)
 				response.render(OnEventHeaderItem.forComponent(this, "click",
 					"var win = this.ownerDocument.defaultView || this.ownerDocument.parentWindow; " //
 						+ "if (win == window) { window.location.href='" //
-						+ JavaScriptUtils.escapeQuotes(url) //
+						+ escapeQuotesAndBackslash(url) //
 						+ "'; } ;return false"));
 				return;
 			}
diff --git a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/Link.java b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/Link.java
index a2b8486403..cf0fb445c8 100644
--- a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/Link.java
+++ b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/Link.java
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 import org.apache.wicket.model.IModel;
 import org.apache.wicket.request.mapper.parameter.PageParameters;
 
+import static org.apache.wicket.core.util.string.JavaScriptUtils.escapeQuotesAndBackslash;
+
 /**
  * Implementation of a hyperlink component. A link can be used with an anchor (&lt;a href...)
  * element or any element that supports the onclick javascript event handler (such as buttons, td
@@ -414,7 +416,7 @@ public void renderHead(IHeaderResponse response)
 			// next check for popup settings
 			if (popupSettings != null)
 			{
-				popupSettings.setTarget(url.toString());
+				popupSettings.setTarget("'" + url.toString() + "'");
 				response.render(OnEventHeaderItem.forComponent(this, "click",
 					popupSettings.getPopupJavaScript()));
 				return;
@@ -431,7 +433,7 @@ public void renderHead(IHeaderResponse response)
 				// generated during page load. This check ensures that the click is ignored
 				response.render(OnEventHeaderItem.forComponent(this, "click",
 					"var win = this.ownerDocument.defaultView || this.ownerDocument.parentWindow; "
-						+ "if (win == window) { window.location.href='" + url
+						+ "if (win == window) { window.location.href='" + escapeQuotesAndBackslash(url)
 						+ "'; } ;return false"));
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/PopupSettings.java b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/PopupSettings.java
index e62b3e01be..bb20ed711a 100644
--- a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/PopupSettings.java
+++ b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/link/PopupSettings.java
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import static org.apache.wicket.core.util.string.JavaScriptUtils.escapeQuotesAndBackslash;
+import static org.apache.wicket.core.util.string.JavaScriptUtils.unquoteSingleQuoted;
+
 
 /**
  * A popup specification can be used as a property of the {@link Link}classes to specify that the
@@ -156,10 +159,10 @@ public String getPopupJavaScript()
 			windowTitle = windowTitle.replaceAll("\\W", "_");
 		}
 
+		var escapedTarget = escapeQuotesAndBackslash(unquoteSingleQuoted(target));
 		StringBuilder script = new StringBuilder(//
-			"var w = window.open('"//
-				+ JavaScriptUtils.escapeQuotes(target) //
-				+ "', '").append(windowTitle).append("', '");
+			"var w = window.open('" + escapedTarget + "', '" //
+		).append(windowTitle).append("', '");
 
 		script.append("scrollbars=").append(flagToString(SCROLLBARS));
 		script.append(",location=").append(flagToString(LOCATION_BAR));